Portrait of Mrs. George Collier
18th century
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
unframed: 80 × 67.3 cm · framed: 112 × 101 × 12 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of J. H. Wade
Accession Number
1920.514
Tags
About this artwork
Given to the Cleveland Museum in 1920 by the collector Jeptha H. Wade, this painting was thought to be an authentic work by Joshua Reynolds. However, after considerable study, the museum attributed it to a follower of Reynolds working in a similar style around the same time. This portrait depicts the wife of the captain (and later admiral) George Collier. The artist draws an analogy between this woman and Lesbia, a married woman who provided much artistic inspiration for the Roman poet Catullus ...